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Speak Now (song)
"Speak Now" is a country pop song by Taylor Swift. The song was solely written by Swift and produced by Nathan Chapman with Swift's aid. It was released on October 5, 2010 by Big Machine Records as a promotional single from Swift's third studio album, Speak Now. Swift wrote the song about interrupting a wedding, after conversing with her friend, whose ex-boyfriend would soon wed to someone else, and having a dream about one of her own ex-boyfriends marrying another girl. The song relies on acoustic guitar and is narrated from the perspective of a person who crashes her former love's wedding in attempt to win him back. The song opened to critical acclaim for its lyrical detail. "Speak Now" had successful commercial outcomes in Canada and the United States, charting at number eight on both the Canadian Hot 100 and the Billboard Hot 100. Its appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 marked Swift's sixth top ten debut, which made her the artist with the most top ten debuts in the history of the chart. "Speak Now" also managed to garner enough airplay to chart on the Hot Country Songs Chart. Background Taylor Swift says of this song: "Speak Now" was written by Swift, as were all the tracks for the album. The song was inspired by one of Swift's dear friends and the story of she and her high school sweetheart. The couple went their separate ways after high school — with the idea that they would get back together. Swift acknowledged that she thought it was inevitable for them to reunite. One day, Swift's friend informed Swift that her high school sweetheart would soon wed. "He had met this girl who's just this horrible, mean person who made him completely stop talking to all of his friends, cut off his family. She had him so completely isolated," says Swift. She asked her friend if she would "speak now." Perplexed, her friend asked for an explanation, and she answered, "You know, storm the church. 'Speak now or forever hold your peace.' I'll go with you. I'll play guitar. It'd be great." Swift's friend found this to be humorous, laughing at the idea. After speaking with her friend, Swift became deeply fixated on the idea of how tragic it would be for the person one loved to wed someone else. That night, Swift experienced a dream where one of her own ex-boyfriends married another girl. To her, this signaled that she had to compose a song about interrupting a wedding. In retrospection, she concluded, "For me, I like to think of it as good versus evil. And this girl is just completely — just the evil one." Swift entitled the album after "Speak Now" because it fit the album's concept, each song being a different confession to a person, well. "It's called Speak Now, and that pertains to the album as a concept and as an entire theme of the record more than I can even tell you", she said. A 30-second clip of the song was previewed on Comcast's Xfinitytv.com on October 4, 2010. "Speak Now" was released as a promotional single from Speak Now on October 5, 2010 as part of Countdown to Speak Now, an exclusive campaign launched by the iTunes Store. On a promotional tour to promote the album "Speak Now", Taylor Swift performed "Speak Now" on The Late Show With David Letterman In her Thanksgiving NBC special, she explained: Composition "Speak Now" is a country pop track with a length of four minutes and two seconds. }|work=Allmusic|publisher=Rovi Corporation|accessdate=October 15, 2010}} It has a predominant pop music composition, intertwined with various country elements. The song is set in common time and has a fast tempo of 120 beats per minute. It is written in the key of G major and Swift's vocals span two octaves, from A3 to D5. Swift's vocals begin in a hushed tone, gradually turn grow, and at one point belt the song's title. The song features different twangy, up-and-down vocal hooks might, in similarity to "You Belong with Me". It follows the chord progression G–D–Am–C. The song's instrumentation is based on acoustic guitar; it eventually has its own gentle solo. In the lyrics of "Speak Now", Swift narrates about crashing her former love's wedding in attempt to win him back. The opening lines acknowledge that, although out of character, Swift still in love with her ex-boyfriend and wants to make sure he does not marry the wrong girl. Throughout the song's verses, Swift sneaks in the wedding and describes her observations, such as the bride-to-be's bearing of a poofy wedding gown, her cumulative family, and an organist playing "Bridal Chorus". In "Speak Now"'s refrains, Swift pleads her ex-boyfriend to not say his vows in order to run away with her. The bridge has Swift responding to the priest's calling of "Speak now or forever hold your peace" before repeating the opening lines. The last refrain is altered to tell that the groom and Swift indeed run away together. Hidden message: Hidden message: You always regret what you don't say. Taylor Swift wrote this after a friend who saw her ex-boyfriend getting married. This song is also rumored to be about Hayley Williams attending the wedding of Josh Farro, a former member of the band Paramore and Hayley’s ex-boyfriend. Lyrics Intro I am not the kind of girl Who should be rudely barging in On a white veil occasion But you are not the kind of boy Who should be marrying the wrong girl '1 I sneak in and see your friends And her snotty little family All dressed in pastel And she is yelling at a bridesmaid Somewhere back inside a room Wearing a gown shaped like a pastry 'Pre-Chorus This is surely not What you thought it would be I lose myself in a daydream Where I stand and say 'Chorus Don't say yes, run away now I'll meet you when you're out Of the church at the back door Don't wait or say a single vow You need to hear me out And they said "speak now" '2 Fond gestures are exchanged And the organ starts to play A song that sounds like a death march And I am hiding in the curtains It seems that I was uninvited By your lovely bride-to-be 'Pre-Chorus She floats down the aisle Like a pageant queen But I know you wish it was me You wish it was me (Don't you) 'Chorus Don't say yes, run away now I'll meet you when you're out Of the church at the back door Don't wait or say a single vow You need to hear me out And they said "speak now" 'Chorus Don't say yes, run away now I'll meet you when you're out Of the church at the back door Don't wait or say a single vow Your time is running out And they said "speak now" 'Interlude Ooh, la-da-da-da, oh Ooh, ooh (Say a single vow) 'Bridge I hear the preacher say "Speak now or forever hold your peace" There's the silence, there's my last chance I stand up with shaking hands, all eyes on me Horrified looks from everyone in the room But I'm only looking at you '3 I am not the kind of girl Who should be rudely barging in On a white veil occasion But you are not the kind of boy Who should be marrying the wrong girl (Hehe!) 'Chorus Don't say yes, run away now I'll meet you when you're out Of the church at the back door Don't wait or say a single vow You need to hear me out And they said "speak now" '- Variation And you say "Let's run away now I'll meet you when I'm out of my tux at the back door" Baby, I didn't say my vows So glad you were around when they said "Speak now" Reception Critical reception Simon Vozick-Levinson of Entertainment Weekly deemed "Speak Now" one of Swift's best songs yet. He also said, "Her expressive delivery of the lyrics makes up for any shortcomings as a technical vocalist" and that it was "expertly catchy". He concluded that he unable to stop playing the song after he heard it. Bill Lamb of About.com said the song was "brilliant". He continued, "The song is sweet, funny, bratty, and edgy all at the same time. Taylor Swift remains one of our most gifted young lyricists." Chart performance On the week ending October 23, 2010, "Speak Now" entered the ''Billboard Hot 100 at number eight due to the sales of 217,000 digital downloads. With that week's appearance on the chart, "Speak Now" became Swift's sixth top ten debut and, therefore, set the mark that made Swift the artist with most top ten debuts in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, surpassing the five top ten entries earned by Mariah Carey from 1995 to 1998. It also charted at number sixty on the Hot Country Songs Chart on the week ending October 23, 2010. Elsewhere in North America, the track debuted at number eight on the Canadian Hot 100. In Australia, "Speak Now" debuted at number twenty. Track listing *'''Digital Download #"Speak Now" - 4:02 Charts References See also Speak Now (lyrics) External link *http://www.taylorswift.com/music#/speak_now/speak_now Category:Speak Now songs Category:Songs written by Taylor Swift Category:2010 songs